IRAQ FOOD IMPORTS SHOULD BE LIMITED TO COALITION PARTNERS

Members of Congress join USA Rice in seeking White House support

WASHINGTON, DC, February 12, 2004 — Congressional delegations from the nation’s rice producing states today joined the USA Rice Federation in asking National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice and the Bush Administration to work with other members of the Coalition Provisional Authority to change its policy relative to Iraq’s food imports.

In letters sent today from both the House and Senate, the bipartisan delegation writes, “Those of us representing U.S. rice producers and millers are becoming increasingly concerned with the CPA’s policy of allowing major rice exporting nations that are not members of the Coalition to bid on Iraqi food tenders administered by the World Food Program. We think the CPA policy for food tenders should be consistent with the CPA reconstruction policy and restrict contracts to countries that have sacrificed and invested in the Coalition effort to free Iraq.”

USA Rice membership rallied behind this effort at the Government Affairs Conference last week in Washington, DC. During the conference, rice growers and millers from across the country gathered in our nation’s capital to lobby for a number of rice-related issues, among them getting U.S. rice into Iraq, the USA Rice Federation’s top priority for 2004. Doing so would mean regaining the U.S. rice industry’s former number one market.

During the 1980s, U.S. rice sales to Iraq averaged 345,000 metric tons annually, with sales exceeding 500,000 metric tons in peak years. The U.S. rice industry lost the market in 1991 as a result of trade sanctions imposed by the United Nations. In recent years, Iraq’s annual rice imports from other world suppliers have averaged a million metric tons.

“This is a market that the U.S. rice industry played a major role in supplying prior to 1991 and wants to do so again,” the letter reads. “However, the CPA’s current policy of allowing major rice exporters, such as Vietnam, to bid on World Food Program administered tenders creates a situation where the market is quite likely to remain in the hands of competitors who are not Coalition partners. With the current challenges the U.S. rice industry is facing, particularly in the milling sector, renewed Iraq market access could have a tremendous impact in value added sales thereby enhancing economies in rural America.”

Members sending the Senate letter include Senators Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-Mo.), John Breaux (D-La.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Jim Talent (R-Mo.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.). Members sending the House letter include Representatives Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Marion Berry (D-Ark.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Chris John (D-La.), Rodney Alexander (D-La.), Richard Baker (R-La.), David Vitter (R-La.), Wally Herger (R-Calif.), Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), Dennis Cordoza (D-Calif.), Doug Ose (R-Calif.), and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)

The USA Rice Federation is the national advocate for all segments of the rice industry, conducting activities to influence government programs, developing and initiating programs to increase worldwide demand for U.S. rice, and providing other services to increase industry profitability for all industry segments. For more information, or to obtain a copy of the letters, visit www.usarice.com

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